The iconic Victa Cinema, in the main street of Victor Harbor, has gained provisional State Heritage listing.

The art deco-style building was nominated by the South Australian Heritage Council in November 2022. It was named a Local Heritage Place in 2003.

A cinema was first built on the site in 1923. Badly damaged by fire in 1934, it was reconstructed as the first South Australian picture theatre purpose-built to screen ‘talkies’.

Originally seating almost 1000, the cinema was divided into twin screens in 1998.

The heritage listing nomination says, “the Victa Cinema established the pattern for all picture theatres that followed and is both an influential and pivotal example of its class, demonstrating an unusually high level of intactness and integrity.”

“(It) was one of the first buildings designed in an interwar streamlined style in South Australia and is understood to be the earliest surviving example.”

The Summary of State Heritage Place about Victa Cinema can be read online. 

The City of Victor Harbor purchased the cinema in October 2020 with the intention of incorporating the building into a future Arts and Cultural Centre.

Stage five of the council’s Main Street Redevelopment includes a concept design for the Arts and Cultural Centre, which has been on hold since public consultation in mid 2021.

Construction of the Arts and Culture Centre is currently listed in the Long-Term Financial Plan to start in the 2027/28 financial year.

Councillors recently visited the cinema for a briefing session on the project team’s review of the concept design.

The Art Deco & Modernism, Adelaide Chapter, has welcomed the provisional State Heritage listing, which will protect the place from development so that it can be appropriately assessed.

It encourages everyone who loves 20th Century built heritage to make a written submission on whether or not the Victa Cinema should be confirmed as a State Heritage Place.

The submission form can be downloaded here. The closing date for public submissions is 5 June.